Kim Dotcom's Political Party Wants To 'Abolish Mass Surveillance'

Tech tycoon Kim Dotcom has told the Guardian that "governments
want to engage in mass surveillance and have total citizen
control", before a crowd fundraising event for the Mana Internet
party, the political party he founded to contest New
Zealand's September 20 elections.

Dotcom also reiterated his promise that five days before the
election, the world will "witness a moment of truth" at an event
alongside Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist
who broke the NSA revelations with Edward Snowden. "We're about to make history", he
said.

The Party Party was originally scheduled for January
and had released 20,000 tickets before the Electoral Commission
in New Zealand cancelled the event owing to fears it breached
electoral law, because the event was free.

Explaining his plans from a helicopter over South Island, Dotcom
said he believes that governments globally will be "knocked out
by the internet population", and his hope that his party will
"abolish mass surveillance and rejuvenate politics by giving the
internet generation a voice."

"Everyone should care about their basic human right to privacy.
More and more people do. Governments want to engage in mass
surveillance and have total citizen control. We have just woken
up."

When asked whether the Internet party could work in the UK or
elsewhere, Dotcom said: "100%. Someone is starting an Internet
Party there. And even Jimmy Wales approves of us. So stay tuned."

Of young people's current political apathy, both in New Zealand
and the world, Dotcom believes political parties need to change
their approach to capture Generation Y voters, hence the Party
Party event. "Music is a powerful tool to get the youth
interested in politics."

"We are currently polling 2.8 in 'landline' polls. Our voters
don't even know what a landline is. They are all mobile and
online. The youth in New Zealand is embracing us. We make
politics cool and direct. We have the apps and sites for youth to
engage.

"I'm just shaking my head about the incompetence of the New
Zealand government in all tech and internet matters. They don't
have a vision for the future. They are not thinking bold thoughts
like how can we double our GDP by focusing on growing our tech
and internet sector. That's where real growth is going to happen
in the decades to come.

"The internet is the biggest gift to mankind and we need to
protect it from overreaching governments and greedy
corporations."

He also told the Guardian he is still seeking private prosecution against GCSB, New
Zealand's equivalent to the NSA and GCHQ,
after his house was raided. "It's highly likely. My legal team is
working on it."

Mega is a cloud
service and hosting successor to Megaupload. Last month he announced that he would be taking his new
digital music service Baboom public on the Australian Securities
Exchange by the end of 2014.